Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Korea, US Work Together to Salvage Fighter Jet

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The navies of South Korea and the United States are working closely together to salvage an F-16C fighter that crashed in the West Sea earlier this month, the U.S. military here said Monday.The U.S. Safeguard, which arrived in the southern military port city of Jinhae on March 16 from Japan, will join the operation with South Korea's warship the Pyongtaek for two weeks, the United States Navy Command based here said in a statement.

The U.S. plane is believed to be under about 20 meters of water about 30 kilometers from coastal Kunsan Air Base in North Cholla Province.

On March 14, the plane's American pilot ejected safely and was later flown back to the U.S. base, where he was treated at a medical clinic and released, according to U.S. military officials.

``The Guardian, which is participating in the Foal Eagle exercise, is also helping the salvage operation by calculating the depth of the sea and the position of the underwater object using sound waves,’’ the statement said.

The Safeguard is planning to deliver the wrecked plane to the U.S. mainland. South Korea and the U.S. are engaged in the biggest combined military exercise of the year on the Korean Peninsula starting Saturday.